If you are already thinking your alcohol consumption is an issue, then chances are it is.

This questionnaire is for anyone, to help them to decide if alcohol is becoming a destructive factor in their life.

The Johns Hopkins Twenty Questions: Are You An Alcoholic?

1. Do you lose time from work due to your drinking?

2. Is drinking making your home life unhappy?

3. Do you drink because you are shy with other people?

4. Is drinking affecting your reputation?

5. Have you ever felt remorse after drinking?

6. Have you gotten into financial difficulties as a result of your drinking?

7. Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment when drinking?

8. Does your drinking make you careless of your family's welfare?

9. Has your ambition decreased since drinking?

10. Do you crave a drink at a definite time daily?

11. Do you want a drink the next morning?

12. Does drinking cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?

13. Has your efficiency decreased since drinking?

14. Is drinking jeopardizing your job or business?

15. Do you drink to escape from worries or troubles?

16. Do you drink alone?

17. Have you ever had a complete loss of memory as a result of your drinking?

18. Has your physician ever treated you for drinking?

19. Do you drink to build up your self-confidence?

20. Have you ever been in a hospital or institution on account of drinking?

If you have answered YES to any one of the questions, there is a definite warning that you may be an alcoholic.

If you have answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are an alcoholic.

If you have answered YES to three or more, you are definitely an alcoholic.

If you are considering changing your drinking "habit" or stopping your consumption altogether, you may want to talk to your Dr./ counselor regarding cessation options.You could also visit an A.A. meeting to see if you identify or call their hotline ( listed in every phone book internationally ) to speak with a volunteer counselor.

youngRJ1 saidUsually every night I have 2-3 vodka cocktails. Is this bad? Too excessive?

I drink just to mellow out and relax. I don't know if it's becoming a problem. I don't think it is, but I surely don't want alcohol to become a problem.

3 cocktails every night is more than I drink myself, so yeah, by volume alone that may be excessive. It shouldn't take 3 drinks to mellow. How do you feel the next morning? Dragging a bit?

The Johns Hopkins list is helpful, but I might add another, where you test yourself by not drinking for a solid week, starting tomorrow:

- Did you drink at all for the 7 days?- Were you struggling the whole time, increasingly thinking of having a drink?- Did you feel uneasy, tense, become edgy, or experience personality changes, like you were having withdrawals? - Did you reject the entire idea of stopping for a week, because you're already convinced you could stop if you really want to?

How much alcohol is going into these is an important factor. Are you literally just mellowing, or are you "getting drunk?" Examine your cause, is it an escape? If your concerned, call it quits for a while and see how you react. If you feel you cannot go on without a drink... that may be a bad sign. If you just happen to enjoy a drink in the evening and it's no big to not have one, I would imagine you're fine. I'd look up what the constant vodka intake is doing to my body though. We've all heard a glass of red wine a day is no big, 3 vodka cocktails may be another story.

GordHunter saidIIf you have answered YES to any one of the questions, there is a definite warning that you may be an alcoholic.

If you have answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are an alcoholic.

If you have answered YES to three or more, you are definitely an alcoholic.

This is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read. My grandma is a chairman of the national AA community and a Treasurer of her local sect and NONE of this true.

Tell some of this to my friend who is the lead of his local wine market who has to test beers or wines and grade them alone. Gosh. He's such an alcoholic. Doesn't drink other than at those times, but such a total alchy and he would be under at least 3 of those answers.

GordHunter saidIIf you have answered YES to any one of the questions, there is a definite warning that you may be an alcoholic.

If you have answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are an alcoholic.

If you have answered YES to three or more, you are definitely an alcoholic.

This is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read. My grandma is a chairman of the national AA community and a Treasurer of her local sect and NONE of this true.

Tell some of this to my friend who is the lead of his local wine market who has to test beers or wines and grade them alone. Gosh. He's such an alcoholic. Doesn't drink other than at those times, but such a total alchy and he would be under at least 3 of those answers.

/eyeroll

Your Grandma will be very familiar with this questionnaire then as it is approved and widely distributed by every A.A. organization world wide.

This "crock of shit" as you so eloquently put it, is the first thing you will see on the literature table at any / every A.A. meeting internationally.Having volunteered in the Toronto district office's distribution center while on student placement, I know this to be a fact.

Next time you are chatting with your Grandma, ask her about the little yellow "20 questions" brochure...chances are she carries a stack of them in her purse.

The brochure is also available and distributed at non-A.A. facilities whose use alternative forms of treatment.

As someone who's educational and former professional background is in the field of addiction research and recovery I am fully aware that all individual clients should be handled on a case-by-case basis.The questionnaire provides a potentially useful starting point to address any concerns an individual may have with their alcohol consumption and, as I had previously stated, the concern for change should be prevalent if a pattern is developing with any of these behaviors.

Regardless of your opinion, I am aware that this questionnaire and the tools provided by A.A.and alternative treatment facilities have saved countless numbers of lives, have healed families and relationships and has ended the suffering of those afflicted with the illness of alcoholism.

Hey kids: want a diagnosis: see a doctor....that's what they're for. Leave the "20 questions" to the Cosmo readers waiting for a pap smear.

You neglected to mention that the survey asks several questions that elicit the same answer. Notably # 3 and # 19

3. Do you drink because you are shy with other people?

19. Do you drink to build up your self-confidence?

So if your a shy bloke with low self esteem, by god your an alcoholic and you need to come in our doors and let us build you up. This is shameful marketing and propaganda with only one intention: to prey on weak people

P.S. Don't get me started on this question..

7. Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment when drinking?

Cause Sporting events and Bar's are inferior environments than churches??? I've seen a lot of miraculous problems solved over a beer or other cocktail.

Your Grandma will be very familiar with this questionnaire then as it is approved and widely distributed by every A.A. organization world wide.

This "crock of shit" as you so eloquently put it, is the first thing you will see on the literature table at any / every A.A. meeting internationally.Having volunteered in the Toronto district office's distribution center while on student placement, I know this to be a fact.

Next time you are chatting with your Grandma, ask her about the little yellow "20 questions" brochure...chances are she carries a stack of them in her purse.

The brochure is also available and distributed at non-A.A. facilities whose use alternative forms of treatment.

As someone who's educational and former professional background is in the field of addiction research and recovery I am fully aware that all individual clients should be handled on a case-by-case basis.The questionnaire provides a potentially useful starting point to address any concerns an individual may have with their alcohol consumption and, as I had previously stated, the concern for change should be prevalent if a pattern is developing with any of these behaviors.

Regardless of your opinion, I am aware that this questionnaire and the tools provided by A.A.and alternative treatment facilities have saved countless numbers of lives, have healed families and relationships and has ended the suffering of those afflicted with the illness of alcoholism.

I've talked to her extensively about it. She was/is an alcoholic and was very much so early on in my mother and aunt's lives. I know how much of a terrible person it can make someone.

She believes those 20 questions do not innately make a person an alcoholic.The only difference between an evangelical preacher and what you all said is that one is trying to get you to donate money to their cause half of the time.The thought is of a "God" making a shit person, who would probably be more of a shit person subconsciously, is having them pick the "good decision", but I will not praise all religion for making people have a right and wrong complex. I will not say I "have a problem and are in denial" because I have more than 6 drinks one night. I will not sit at a seat in a circle and say my life is hell because I went out on Friday, got a little more personality driven when it's been weeks or months.

And I will not respect a 20 question paper that has so many obvious fallacies.

As I will not believe just because a child fidgets in his seat because he's bored at school means he has ADHD. There's MUCH more below the surface.

I agree with abstaining for a week or so - just a general "cleansing". And though I think the questions here give some things to consider in terms of the reasons for drinking - they don't make one an alcoholic by default.

Recently, on advise of my therapist I went a solid month without drinking. The first time in probably....ummm.... wow. Since I was 22... maybe.

The funny thing was, I rarely felt I really 'wanted' one. I could tell when I was at the bar(s) it was more about social habit and context. What was hilarious is how many friends were a little 'concerned' that I might stop drinking altogether - ! It was funny to realize they would miss a "drinking buddy". I almost never drink alone when I'm at home - though my ex had one or two a night like clockwork.

The real question here is: What do YOU feel about it. If you think there may be reason to take a break or pull back or thinking about why and how often you drink, then - good lord! - you're a self-monitoring person. A rarity in our culture! Consider yourself an evolved specimen and adjust your behaviors and options accordingly.

And - there are many ways of unwinding... Alcohol is just one of the more traditional ones.